Downfall of man they scorned as Fletch the Letch

But in the early 1970s when he first started working at Scalby School, Scarborough – his first and last job in teaching as things would turn out – it was a different story.

A curly-headed athlete, who liked to joke about, he was an instant hit with the girls, a popularity that more than 30 years later would end in his professional and personal downfall for past sex offences.

Fletcher, originally from the Consett-Bishop Auckland area of County Durham, was one of several new staff to come on board as Scalby was in the throes of transition from a modestly-sized secondary modern school to a sprawling comprehensive.

But from the outset he had a lifestyle which appeared unconventional. Unmarried and destined to be a lifelong bachelor, he was closer in age to the pupils than he was to many of his older colleagues.

A hard-drinking Geordie he soon forged a reputation as a drinker in local pubs, even combining his daytime teaching career with night time work as a doorman.

He had a sense of humour, but it was with an edge when directed towards male pupils. Often, he would throw a boy a football and put a spin on it so the child would fumble the catch.

There was no shortage of girlfriends for the young sports teacher. But his adult relationships never seemed to last long as woman after woman came to realise he was a man trapped in permanent adolescence.

Rumours surfaced regarding Fletcher and female pupils. In 1978, a pupil, then aged 16, says he complained to police after a 16-year-old girl spent the night in Fletcher's flat.

The former pupil, now in his late 40s, says he was persuaded to withdraw the complaint by the school after it became clear that nothing untoward had happened and the girl, whom he thinks had left school by then, merely stayed for somewhere to sleep.

However, it seems questions may have been raised at a higher level shortly afterwards. A Scarborough Council source says high ranking officials at the town hall were discussing Fletcher with county council officials in the early 1980s.

A file was reputedly changing hands regarding the teacher and his

conduct as education bosses informally consulted colleagues at Scarborough about what course of action to take, according to the source.

However, no acton appears to have been taken and North Yorkshire County Council says it can now find no trace of any file, or record of a police complaint.

Years went by. Fletcher began drinking more heavily and piling on weight. It was an open secret among colleagues that Fletcher kept a bottle of whisky in his desk drawer.

Even the younger pupils were now beginning to notice the smell of alcohol on his breath. It was not unknown for him to set after-school detentions and then forget to turn up himself.

Older pupils said he would appear at reunions, bemoaning the passing of the times when disciplinary problems could be sorted out with a cricket bat across a boy's backside.

Polite and softly spoken, he played golf at the North Cliff Golf Club, worked with Scarborough Football Club, rose to become head of PE at Scalby, and despite his sagging physique made a name for himself as a community football coach.

But he still had an eye for young girls and was sometimes seen buying rounds of drinks for them in pubs. Then towards the summer of 2009 justice finally caught up with him.

Detective Sergeant Andy Kenyon said: "He definitely preyed on vulnerable young girls and it was an abuse of his position. He is a man who has used his position as a teacher to engage with young students. He has shown no remorse.

"We want to praise the victims for their strength of character in coming forward at this stage. It takes a lot of courage, especially after this length of time.

"It has had a massive impact on their lives."